Chicago residents and college students are extremely familiar with the colors blue, brown and red. These colors obviously represent the eight different types of rail lines that are part of an intricate system. Servicing 3.8 million people, the Chicago Transit Authority is the second largest public transportation system in the U.S. It takes passengers around the city and into 40 nearby suburbs. With nearly 140 bus routes and rail stations, the CTA is a subject of great criticism and praise.
In November, the CTA announced some major changes that will take place in 2013. In order for the CTA to survive and stop borrowing money from the state and capitol funds, they proposed a $1.39 billion budget plan.
According to the Chicago Tribune, all of the prices, except the full-fare single ride, will change. One-day passes and the multiday passes will cost 16 to 74 percent more. For example, the price of a 30-day pass will go up from $86 to $100 and the one-day pass will rise to $10. Also, reduced fares for seniors and disabled people will escalate and reduced fares for students will drop by 10 cents.
The Tribune reports that 55 percent of all the riders use these passes, while the CTA claims that only tourists will be affected by this change. There are inconsistencies in these two statements, but one thing is true and that is DePaul students have no need to worry because they do not buy these passes during the school year.
“I’ve never had to buy my own CTA pass because of school so it doesn’t affect me right now, [but] if i were a regular commuter who had to pay for a monthly pass I’d probably be a little mad. At the same time if the extra money brought in from higher rates was put back into the city then everyone should just stop complaining, said Kevin Przychodni, DePaul senior.
Mayor Rahm Emmanuel spoke on behalf of this matter and said that commuters must “make a choice” either to drive or to take buses and trains.
The CTA is raising prices in 2013 but they do not plan on raising them again until in 2016. So even with inflation – the prices will stay the same.
